Follow Your Feet
by pipp
Summary: Lily Evans is beautiful, popular, funny and sporty. She is a natural born leader, and exudes charm that no one is immune to. Not even THE James Potter. Rated R just in case.
1. A Sense of Futility

_**Follow Your Feet**_

_**Chapter 1 – A Sense of Futility**_

James Potter stepped through Platform 9 ¾ alongside his best buddy, Sirius, and glanced around the crowded station. Hewas trying to look casual, but his best friend knew exactly what was on his mind.

"You're looking for her aren't you?" Sirius asked knowingly, rolling his eyes in exasperation, "why can't you understand that she's out of your league?"

James looked slightly hurt, but he grinned as a slight red tinge crept up his cheeks, "she's more important than my pride mate."

The sea of bobbing heads surrounded him, frustrating him in his search for what he thought of as 'his' girl.

The holidays had been difficult for James, being away from the girl who was so important to him had been near impossible. He had no photo, no contact with her whatsoever, and it was no consolation that he lived within a distance of 5 miles from her, seeing as she despised him. Sirius had stayed over, and they played quidditch most days. James found that this took his mind off _her_, while he got fitter. The outdoors had a great effect on his body. He was tanned, and he had a few lean muscles, the type that just rippled under the surface. James had shot up over the summer, and towered over his parents. Sirius often called him a bean, much to James' annoyance. Even if James didn't realize it, he could have almost any girl. Except for one girl. And to him, she was the only girl.

James suddenly glimpsed red in the midst of the crowd. He surged forward, his heart beating erratically. By now, he was unconsciously grinning, as Sirius, beside him, groaned.

_Why?_ Sirius thought, _the one girl who is too good for him, why her? Anyone else but her! And not only is she too good for him, she makes him act like a fool!_

James' eyes were on Lily Evans, a popular girl in sixth year. She was smiling and joking with her friends, telling them of her recent exploits and adventures. A slight graze brushed her cheek, and she was explaining to them how she fell from a tree in the holidays. She laughed at her own stupidity. In between her story, she was flashing intermittent grins at a blonde boy standing near the train. James noticed that a soft feeling came over her eyes whenever she turned his way. Jealousy rippled through him, who was this boy? He would soon give him the message, loud and clear.

-

James finally reached Lily, and tapped her on the shoulder. She faltered in her story and turned around. Her face was very close to James Potter's. As soon as she noticed this, she jumped away, as if burnt.

"Oh it's _you_," she said, disappointed. James looked somewhat put out.

"Lily! I've been looking for you, how were you holidays?" A feeble attempt at conversation, he knew, but he felt as though he was floundering in the deep.

"Just fine, yours?" Lily seemed bored already. He knew she thought was was a loser and a waste of time and he could feel the futility of his conversation.

James tried to redeem himself, but he already felt it was pointless.

"I missed seeing you, you have no idea how much," he claimed with feeling. Lily coughed to hide her embarrassment, her cheeks were slightly pinker.

"Um … me too, you know what I really have to get going!" she laughed nervously, and slowly backed away.

-

_OH MY GOD! How awkward! I feel sorry for him … why can't he just leave me alone and save himself and myself the embarrassment??_ Lily thought. James Potter was popular, smart and had a great personality … apparently. All she could see in him was a bumbling fool. Well she could also see how good he looked, with his thick eyelashes shadowing his eyes gently. Sometimes, she found herself looking at him, and her heart would start to hammer, but then she remembered who he was, and the disappointment that seeped through her was intoxicating. _Does he like me or something? _Lily found it hard to reason out those little exchanges. They were as frequent as they were awkward, and she usually found a reason to dash off before she had the chance to find the real James.

-

As these thoughts were coursing through Lily, James was grimacing in frustration.

"Oh God! Why can't I just be normal around her? She makes me look like a goldfish, with my mouth opening and close and nothing but meaningless air bubbles coming out!" he yelled in frustration and agony as he pounded on his friend's chest with his fists. Sirius was used to it of course, and didn't say a word.

"Look mate, keep your voice down, your scaring the first years," Sirius said in a would-be soothing voice, if not for the slight edge of worry, "just forget about Lily, go after someone who is within reach, there are plenty of other girls, just look how successful I am with them. My secret is … look don't tell anyone mate, but … I go for the ones that I know won't turn me down." James looked down. His eyes had the hard edge of shame and sadness in them. Sirius almost felt the waves of disappointment radiating off him. He looked into the distance, where Lily was standing, yet again surrounded by a different group of friends.

He saw beautiful black face in the crowd, and knew exactly how James felt

_**Disclaimer – I do not own anything but the plot …and I'm slowly losing it.**_


	2. So Many Faces

_**Follow Your Feet**_

_**Chapter 2 – So Many Faces**_

The Marauders swaggered down the corridor of the Hogwarts Express. Boys parted to make way for them, girls stopped and stared. Let's just say, they were respected.

Peter Pettigrew was a short loon of a fellow. He was respected as the humble jester of the Marauders. Constantly cracking jokes and making plans, Peter had a wild imagination and a lively sense of humour. He could raise one's spirits and brighten one's day. Sometimes though, he would lose his vitality and his laugh, a flicker of pain would cross his face, and the day would turn grey. No one knew to what they could owe this sudden sadness, but the other Peter could make up for this any day. People loved to be around him, he lived for others.

-

Remus Lupin was known by the girls as a poet- soft and sad. He had a dark edge, a shadowy alter ego, a kind of bitterness that comes with a life of burdens. However his charisma was evident, his darkness almost added to his charm. Remus had dirty blonde hair that loosely hung in his grey eyes. His smile was rare, but on the rare occasion that he did smile, it was a brilliant flash of white. Remus walked with a kind of slouch, hands in his pockets. He seemed kind of bad boy cool- but everyone knew that was just his way. He did his grades and passed with flying colours.

-

Sirius Black, with his floppy black hair and intense blue eyes, was relaxed and laid back. He lived for the moment, did what he pleased. He was an imposing figure, and he used this to his advantage. Sirius walked in a kind of swagger, bad to the bone- so he liked to think. But his buddies knew he was soft on the inside, a real good boy. One thing you could say about Sirius Black was his amazing hunger, for life, for food, for girls, he simply didn't stop. When you looked into Sirius' intense blue eyes, you felt free - possibilities were endless, the sky had no limit, his eyes were like a drug. That was Sirius, he lived for the moment.

-

James Potter. Ringleader extraordinaire. Tall, dark and handsome. James was friends with everyone. He had a certain thing about him that no one could quite place their finger on, but it was there, and it meant that everyone wanted to be around him. Simply his presence could liven up a party, it could inspire a team, it was like wherever he went the spotlight was on him. But he never realized it, and that was what kept him so appealing. James had warm brown eyes, and messy hair. Round glasses rested on his nose, twinkling in reflected light. He was the tallest of his friends, and had a lanky figure. He seemed to do everything slowly and easily; effortlessly, but it was still better. James had his fair share of admirers and enemies. His enemies, however, still respected him. He was not the smartest, best looking, funniest, nicest … but he was James and somehow that was good enough.

-

The four found a carriage and swung open the door. Sirius and James flopped onto a seat, while Peter continued talking avidly to Remus, who was lowering himself gently onto the plush cushioning. Remus allowed a shadow of a smile to cross his lips, as Peter recounted the endless holiday flying lessons he had been forced into. Indeed the remainders of this "torture" were still evident, a purple bruise flowered across his jaw line, and cuts criss-crossed his elbows.

Sirius cleared his throat as he spoke up, after securing the door shut.

"So, fellow marauders, in the name of tradition, I ask you to place in the centre of the table your humble donations. We, being in our sixth year, pledge the oath of the Marauders, say it with me guys," here all the Marauders joined in raucously,

"We Marauders, now in sixth year, Wormtail the dunce, Moony the bright, Padfoot the impulsive and Prongs the high, solemnly swear we are up to no good." The Marauders shared an excited laugh, and ventured into their holidays. The food trolley finally came round, and the "humble donations" were spent excessively on sweet treats.

-

James felt like his insides were sherbert, fizzing and bubbling excitedly inside him. He felt like if he simply opened his mouth he would soar away. He was happy. James was one of those people who always had the extreme of each feeling. If he was happy he was over the moon, if he was depressed, he felt grey and hollow. Right now though, he felt as though he were glowing pink. Every few minutes a picture of Lily Evan's face would flicker through his mind, yet instead of feeling down, he felt as though this year was a clean slate to winning her affections.

James looked around the train compartment, and grinned at Remus, who was giggling happily. Sirius was dominating the conversation as usual, with his expressive face and ever-moving hands. And there was Peter, occasionally throwing in a funny comment or a quick laugh. James sighed; he had the best friends in the whole entire world.

-

Meanwhile Lily Evans was shoveling chocolate frogs into her grinning mouth. Lily and her friends were having a competition to see who could fit the most frogs in their mouths. So far, Jobie was winning- her mouth was huge. Lily was a close second, while Elli was struggling in last place. The other members of the carriage were looking on and laughing, and they were Nicolas Rigby, Andrew Balsam and Nitasha Brigell. This group were Lily's closest friends. Needless to say, Jobie and Elli were Lily's very best friends, and she had known them since first year.

-

Lily and her friends simply loved to have fun. They didn't often have deep conversations or the like, but her always in high spirits, pulling off crazy stunts, having physical competitions. The thing about Lily was that she was a very physical person. She spoke through her body, for example, if she was happy, she would give her friends lots of hugs and kisses. If she was excited she leap on their backs, and ride on them in a piggyback. If she was sad, she'd sprawl out across them, head bowed. You see, her expressions did most of the talking for her.

-

Lily Evans was a girl who was slightly tall for her age. She had a lovely slim figure, athletic looking. Indeed she was very athletic, a champion soccer player; she had convinced Dumbledore to introduce soccer as a sport in Hogwarts in only her second year, claiming it would encourage good relations with muggles. Lily had auburn hair, cut at her shoulders, which she usually tied in a pony tail. Her skin had a light tan, a sprinkling of freckles crossed her little nose. Most people would describe her as cute and pretty, not beautiful. Her smile was heart stopping,but it really was her personality that made her. Always full of life, she was a happy person, which was why she was so popular- she always made other people feel good. Her happiness was downright infectious.

-

Cramming one last chocolate frog into her mouth, she glanced at Jobie to check if she had won. Alas no, Jobie had managed to fit a record breaking 6 chocolate frogs in her mouth. Oh well, thought Lily, at least I beat Elli. Lily signaled for the others to watch her, and then spewed out the chocolaty slime. Her friends had expressions of disgust on their faces, but she could tell they were actually amused. Lily sighed,

"I s'pose we'd better get into our robes … honestly you guys, am I the only responsible person here?" Lily clucked her tongue in a motherly fashion, while her friends sniggered,

"You haven't got one responsible bone in your body honey, and I think I like you that way," Jobie answered back, in her rich smooth voice. Jobie had beautiful black skin, and a large luscious smile. Her eyes were surrounded by thick lashes, and she had thick silky black hair that fell down her back. Lily envied her goddess curves.

"Jobe's right you know Lil, I'd be hard pushed to find someone more irresponsible, immoral and altogether immature than you are, my darling," Elli added, with a hiccup of a laugh.

-

Elli was small, with shiny brown hair. Her skin was pale and creamy. She had a slim figure- lots of people called her skinny. She had large blue eyes, and small cherry lips. She was very sweet looking, and guys seemed to fall head over heels for her. In fact, although she had such an innocent face, she could be very wicked and most surprising of all was that she wasn't a virgin.

-

After changing into their robes, Lily glanced out the window, and gasped. They were approaching Hogwarts. Lily let out an excited squeal and jumped up on top of her seat. She bounced up and down, laughing with her happiness. The previous summer had been tough, disconnected from the wizard world, and she felt like she was home again. Lily planted a big sloppy kiss on Nic's cheek, and unbeknownst to her, he blushed pink. But Lily had already turned away and was chattering nonsense with Nitasha, both muggle-born, and both as happy as each other to be back in the wizarding world. Lily glanced out the window, and felt her face light up as she caught a glimpse of the Gryffindor tower. _Boy, _she thought to herself, _this is going to be one memorable year!_ Little did she know how frighteningly right she was.


End file.
